I received this plea for help against another silly shark fishing competition. This one , however, intends to sell their caught fins to an asian buyer.

URGENT! HELP US SAVE OUR SHARKS FROM SENSELESS SLAUGHTER!

A group of anglers in KwaZulu Natal are planning a shark fishing competition on the weekend of the 18th and 19th August. They've advertised in the Natal Deep Sea Rod and Reel Club newsletter and will catch and kill the sharks, not tag and release them. Their motivation is that their catches are often taken by sharks and "a number of anglers have now got together to find out for themselves what is going on with regards to the shark numbers", to quote from their newsletter.

In the guise of a very questionable charity event, they will target sharks over 20 kilograms and "donate" the fins through a local Asian buyer, and further donate potentially mercury contaminated meat to an underprivileged children's home. Contradicting their implications that there are too many sharks, they add that they cannot find any to satisfy their foreign clients who are only interested in catching sharks - another serious concern (see full details from newsletter on the AOCA website on the link What's Up). As it stands the competition is illegal as it goes against recreational permit conditions.

In light of the severe plight of shark populations worldwide, including in South Africa as depicted in our recent documentary Sharks in Deep Trouble, we cannot condone the unnecessary slaughter of animals that are in desperate need of protection. The motivation for this competition is unacceptable and not supported by scientists.

Considering the overwhelming slaughter of over 100 million sharks per year, which is driving many shark species to extinction, we fight an uphill battle to make a difference in saving them.We need your help through this petition to stop this competition, and also to put pressure on Marine and Coastal Management to change the current recreational fishing limits of sharks of 10 per day per fisherman. We demand adequate scientific evidence, thus far lacking, to support this number, and failing which a precautionary approach for deciding daily shark catch limits. We've only got a few days and need all the support we can get to make a difference.

To enter the petition send your name, email address and comments to info@aoca.org.zaIn the subject line add: Shark Petition, then forward this email to as many people as possible - the number of people who sign will determine the impact we have.

Thank you for helping us to help them!

I also encourage readers to CC copies of their disapproval to the Marine and Coastal Management (MCM) unit of the Department of Environment and Tourism (DEAT). They are responsible for enforcing fishing permits. As of now, the fishing permits allow 10 sharks per fisherman per day. South Africa is one of the last bastions of healthy inshore shark species. Sharks finning is already there and growing. Let's help try to keep the population of sharks there healthy.MCM contact list:Dr Monde Mayekiso, Deputy Director General: Marine and coastal managementTel : +27 (21) 402-3018Fax : +27 (21) 419-6942Email : mmayekiso@deat.gov.za